> Why is this surprising? They’ve always done this.

Ah, well, that makes it alright then. Move along, people, there’s nothing to see here. What’s that? What do you mean you didn’t know about the company slurping your data for their own personal gain, or knowingly poisoning you¹ and selling you defective deadly products²? Didn’t you read that one forum comment by a random person that one time? You shouldn’t be surprised. They’ve always been evil, so what can we do other than cross our arms? All hail our corporate overlords!

> I’m not sure if they can peek into WhatsApp messages.

But someone knows. And if you use WhatsApp and get screwed later, wouldn’t you rather not having your concerns dismissed?

I don’t use WhatsApp, but do have an anecdote. I have a friend who just started using Instagram and purposefully follows no one. She doesn’t have Facebook. Recently a friend recommended to her a specific product on WhatsApp and then she started getting ads for it on Instagram.

¹ https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2024/05/02/how-c...

² https://www.decof.com/documents/dangerous-products.pdf